The present embodiments relate generally to systems and methods for automating adjustments of a travel path of a wire, such as one used to form tire beads.
Many types of vehicular tires include beads surrounding the openings that engage the wheel rim. In general, beads comprise a wire coil in the nature of a hoop formed by winding multiple turns of a coated wire on a suitable bead forming apparatus. The bead may be made up of multiple, radially and axially arranged turns of a single wire or, in so-called weftless beads, of radially stacked layers of a flat ribbon including a plurality of side-by-side wires.
In any case, the single or multiple wires are pulled from one or more supply reels and passed through an extrusion die apparatus that applies a coating of rubber or rubberized material to the wire(s). The coated wire or ribbon is supplied to a conventional bead forming apparatus wherein one or more beads are wound to the desired dimensions and cross-sectional configuration.
In some machines, multiple sheaves or pulleys are provided between the coating operation and the bead forming apparatus to guide the wire and maintain tension upon the wire as conditions change. In general, the sheaves or pulleys are mounted upon respective axles for independent rotation. The multiple sheaves are mounted upon suitable support means, usually in vertically disposed relation, for relative movement toward and away from one another as the bead material is dispensed faster and slower, respectively, than it is accumulated. Most commonly, an upper set of sheaves is fixedly supported at a position several meters above floor level and a lower set is vertically movable with respect thereto in order to ensure that proper tension is maintained during such movement.
In some systems, a precast pulley of a predetermined size is provided between the coating process and the bead winding process. Such precast pulleys are usually available in three different sizes, where one size is selected at a time. The selected precast pulley may comprise a plurality of grooves to provide a predetermined wire path to pre-form the wire to the required tire bead diameter during the winding process. In conventional systems, if it is desired to change the finished bead size, then operation of the machine must be stopped and a user must manually open the machine and reposition the wire in a different groove of the precast pulley, or change out the precast pulley for another precast pulley of a different size. In any case, it is a time-consuming process with safety risks due to the user intervention into the machine.